A rapid and sensitive method has been developed for the specific detection of Erwinia amylovora (Burr.) Winslow et al. using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The method involves amplification of a 187 bp DNA fragment, probably of chromosomal origin. All 69 cultures of E. amylovora in an international collection from 10 host species in five countries were successfully identified using the primers. In contrast, discrete PCR products were not amplified from 29 other Erwinia species or from 20 other species of plant pathogenic and saprophytic bacteria. A detectable 187 bp product was consistently amplified from reactions containing † Corresponding author. H00034

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A bacterium, isolated from infected bulbs of onion (Allium cepa L.) in store, was identified as Pseudomonas gladioli pv. alliicola (Burkholder 1942) Young et al. 1978, and was confirmed as a soft rot pathogen of onion by completion of Koch's postulates. P. gladioli pv. alliicola was first reported as an onion pathogen in New Zealand by Hale in Pennycook (1989). This paper documents the evidence for that record.

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Pseudomonas corrugata Scarlett et al. 1978 is identified as the cause of tomato pith necrosis of glasshouse and field-grown tomato (Lycopersicon lycopersicum (L.) Karst ex Farw.). This is the first record of the pathogen in New Zealand.